For competitive swimmers, as well as for recreational lap swimmers, it is desirable to accurately time each lap, being one transit of the length of the pool and return. Each out and back lap typically occurs within the confines of a marked swimming lane, with the swimmer returning to the starting point in his or her lane at the beginning of each lap.
Swimmers desire the ability to measure the elapse time for each lap. As a result of this need, a variety of timers and lap counters for swimmers have been developed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,029,170, issued to Bailey, teaches a swim lap counter-timer adapted to be affixed to the deck and wall of a swimming pool, and featuring a submersible timer and lap counter together with a pressure-sensitive switch which allows activation of both the counter and the timer. A similar device is taught by Dawley in U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,266, in the form of a timer and lap counter which is secured to a stationary object on the pool deck, or to a heavy weight. In this device, the electronic display is maintained above the surface of the water, and an activation kick pad is mounted below the water surface. A similar device is taught by Benson in U.S. Pat. No. 6,940,784. This digital display device is operable to display both a chronograph and a lap timer in a hand-held case, which is designed to be immersed in water. Further refinements are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,621, to Mitchell, et al., in which the lap timer/counter is activated by an ultrasonic transmitter worn by the swimmer.
All of the foregoing devices exhibit common limitations. First, the devices often exhibit insufficient reflectivity, by virtue of the fact that they utilize liquid crystal displays which require illumination to provide sufficient contrast, or require LED displays.
Further, the display units are in a fixed relationship to the case which is utilized for positioning the device to the pool wall or pool bottom. Because of the refractive index of water, the fixed position of the display in relation to its case may render the display difficult to observe depending on the swimmer's position in relation to the device.
Prior art devices have also exhibited known problems with buoyancy. It is desirable to be able to position the timer/counter at varying depths, and all known devices do not allow for buoyancy control.
One object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a lap timer for use by swimmers which has an extremely high contrast yet low power consumption liquid crystal display.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a swimmer's lap timer which is angularly adjustable in relation to the swimmer's line of sight in the water to provide an easily readable display.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for variable buoyancy of the swimmer's timer so that the timer remains stable in relation to the swimmer's lane at any of a variety of depths.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a swimmer's timer which can be mounted to a base, to the pool deck, or to the pool wall.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a swimmer's timer which is selectively operable as either a timer which is manually operated, or a timer which is operated by a sensing system which operates effectively under the surface of the water.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more fully appreciated from the following summary and description.